Sam Sanders

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The Two-Way

12:57 pm

Mon March 23, 2015

A 120-foot-tall replica bat fronts the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory in Louisville, Ky. Hillerich and Bradsby on Monday announced a deal to sell its Louisville Slugger brand to Wilson Sporting Goods Co. for $70 million.

Baseball's most iconic bat has a new owner. Today, Hillerich & Bradsby, Co., which owns Louisville Slugger, announced the brand would be acquired by Wilson Sporting Goods Co. for $70 million in cash. The move means that Wilson, maker of Major League Baseball's official glove, will soon own the maker of MLB's official bat.

The Two-Way

3:59 pm

Sun March 22, 2015

Larenda Myres holds an iced coffee drink with a "Race Together" sticker on it at a Starbucks store in Seattle. Starbucks baristas will no longer write "Race Together" on customers' cups starting Sunday.

The most visible part of Starbucks' campaign to get customers talking about race — putting the slogan "Race Together" on coffee cups — has come to an end.

In a memo sent to all Starbucks employees Sunday, CEO Howard Schultz wrote: "This phase of the effort — writing 'Race Together' (or placing stickers) on cups, which was always just the catalyst for a much broader and longer term conversation — will be completed as originally planned today, March 22."

The Two-Way

12:46 pm

Tue March 17, 2015

A federal grand jury in New York has indicted a U.S. Air Force veteran on charges of attempting to join the self-described Islamic State.

Tairod Nathan Webster Pugh was indicted on two counts, including obstruction of justice, the U.S. Justice Department said in a statement, adding he will be arraigned Wednesday.

NPR's Carrie Johnson tells our Newscast unit that prosecutors say Pugh was born and raised in the U.S., but "turned his back on the country in an attempt to join ISIS," as the Islamic State is also known.

The Two-Way

1:19 pm

Mon March 16, 2015

This booking photo provided by the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office shows Robert Durst after his arrest Saturday in New Orleans on an extradition warrant to Los Angeles. Durst's return to LA has been delayed by authorities in New Orleans.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney's office has charged Robert Durst with one count of first-degree murder in the 2000 death of Susan Berman. A statement announcing the charge also said that Durst is being held without bail in New Orleans, after being arrested Saturday by FBI agents. The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office says the charge against Durst makes him eligible for the death penalty. The case is still under investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department.

The Two-Way

2:19 pm

Tue March 10, 2015

The Irish government hopes to vote on emergency legislation quickly to counter today's Irish Court of Appeal ruling, which on a technicality legalized a number of hard drugs in the country, including ecstasy and "magic mushrooms." The three-person court found that government officials had not gotten parliamentary approval when they added drugs to the list outlawed by the 1977 Misuse of Drugs Act.

Tinder, the immensely popular dating app that lets users pick a potential match with just the swipe of a finger, launched a paid version this week in 140 countries. But there's a catch: Your age will determine how much you pay.

Tinder told NPR that U.S. users will pay $9.99 for Tinder Plus if they're under 30, and $19.99 per month if they're 30 or older. U.K. users between the ages of 18 and 27 will be charged 3.99 pounds per month, and users 28 and older will be charged 14.99 pounds per month.

For the last few months, NPR has been looking into millennials, as part of our series called New Boom. This group, some 80 million strong, spends over $1 trillion a year by some estimates. So, we wondered: How should brands and advertisers go about reaching millennials if they're so powerful, but also so different, than generations before them?

Remembrances

11:59 pm

Mon February 9, 2015

Ed Sabol's first film for the NFL was of the 1962 championship game between the Green Bay Packers and the New York Giants. He opened with panoramic views, planes flying by and trains rolling on the tracks.

Sabol's crew filmed in 15 degree weather with frozen cameras. They weren't just filming football. They were making cinema. Just a few years later, Ed Sabol became head of NFL Films. And then he and his son, Steve, revolutionized the way we watch sports.